Improvement in harvesters



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE'.

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IMPROVEMENT: IN HARVESTERS. Y

Specification forming part oi' Letters Patent No. 82,156, datedSeptember 15,' 18,68.

To all whom it may concern l Be it known that I, EVERETT G. PAssMoRE, Jr., of the city 'and county of Philadelphia, in the State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Har-'vesters, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, which makepart of this specification, and in which- A Figure l represents a planor top view of so much of a harvester embracing my improvements as isnecessary to illustrate my invention. Fig.' 2 represents a view, inelevation, of the same as seen from the grain-side; and Fig. 3represents a view, in elevation, of the tongue and the apparatus fordisconnecting the gearing.

Letters Patent of the United States, numbered 53,862, for an improvementin harvesters, were granted to me April l0, 1866. rlhe improvementsherein claimedrelate to certain improvements in the construction lof themachi'ne therein shown. In the accompanying drawings, A represents alarge driving'and supporting wheel,

having its spokes a. curved outward beyond its side, in order to arrangethe gearing for driving the cutters within its periphery, and fast on anaxle, B, turning in suitable bearings in 'a main frame, consistingmainly, in this instance,'of a large plate, C, of cast-iron.

Bent arms D D support a shoe, E, carrying a finger-beam, F, and cuttingapparatus of suitable construction, and hinged in any wellknown way toallow the outer end of the iinger-beam to rise and fall independently ofthe main frame. The finger-beam, asfit were,forms a prolongation of themain axle, but on a lower level.

A supporting-wheel, G, runs ou a crankarm, g, rocking in its bearing inthe heel of the shoe, and is raised, lowered, or locked in any desiredposition by a lever-handle, H, spring-detent h, and notched sector h',of the usual well-known construction. This device is only used, however,when mowing, as hereinafter explained.

The tongue I is pivoted to play vertically on its fulcrum i between lugsc on the frame, and has a fork or open slot, il, on its rear end. Thisslot or fork embraces a crank, j, vibrating on trunnions in lugs jl, andcontrolled by a end ofthe main' axle. driver' can readily reach over thewheel to 'in any desired position and'when this `device is used incombination with the crank-wheel, the cutting apparatus maybe adjustedat any i desired height from the ground, and still be to the frame.` Aspring, kl., coiled around the lever presses a stop-plate, k?, into theVnotches of the arch k. By moving the lever backward and forward, thedriving-axle is moved endwise, and thus" connects or disconnects thegearing.

A seat, L, forthe driver is mounted outside of the driving-wheel on acurved bar, A', ein bracing the wheel, and 'attached to the outer Fromthis position the grasp the levers J K.

A bevellpinion, M, `on the inner end of the main axle, drives acorresponding pinion, N, on the bottom of a slightly-inclined shaft, P,mounted in suitable supports, and carrying at top a boss, P', in whichthe sockets which carry the rake and reel'arms V'are pivoted.

The sockets O O' 'are straight, and pivoted opposite each other at the'topof the boss,

while the others, O2 O3, are curved at their inner ends, and pivoted tothe-bottom ofthe boss. TheI sockets Oz and O3 carry curved guides o,adjustable vertically by means of slots and set-screws 0, which guidestravel in the track s of the cam-guide S, which is of the form proper togive the desired traverse to the rake-arms, which path varies accordingto the construction of the machine. Curved rods 03, Fig. 2, on theguides o, travel below the camway, and prevent the arms from rising toohigh.

The other sockets, O Ol carry guides o2, of diii'erent shape from theothers, being longer,

curved backward, and straight at their'ends, I

instead of being hooked like the others. These guides do not travel inthe same track as the others, but outside of it. While passing over theplatform, these guides travel on a secondary rail, T, outside of andbelowl the other track. This is the arrangement when two rakes are used.When only one rake is applied, a guide like those, 0, first mentioned,is to be used. y

A latch, u, is pivoted to play vertically in the cam-track s, beingordinarily held up by a coiled spring, u', on its pivot, so as always tolet the rake sweep oii the gavel, but is drawn down, when requiredtcpass over the gavel, by a crank-arm, lever, and cord, U, which latterpasses through a ring or pulley, i5, on Jthe Y tongue in front of thedriving-wheel, and is then attached to a hand or foot lever, U',operated by the driver, who thus sits on one side of the drivin g-wheeland operates a latch controlling a rake on the other.

For reaping, a platform of suitable form is to be attached'to thefinger-beam in any proper well-known way.

The operation of the machine is as follows: In mowing, the rake isremoved, and the operation is so well understood as to require lnodescription except as to the lifting devices. The finger-beam can beraised or lowered by the hand-lever H, and held in any desired positionbythe rack and detent in the usual way. This adjustment, however, tipsthe cutters, and for this tipping I compensate by means of the rockinglever J, thus enabling me to keep the guards level at any elevation.

For reaping, the wheel G and lever H are removed, and the heel end ofthe finger-beam rigidly connected vwith the main frame by anextension-bar, such as shown in my former patent, or other equivalentdevice, and aplatform is attached, supported at the divider end by asuitable grain-wheel. As the rake and reel arms revolve, the guides o2,the arms of which carry the beaters, travel outside of the track s, andare held up, when passing over the platform, by the supplementarycam-rail T. The guide-arms o, on the contrary, which carry *therake-sockets, always travel in the track s, and would sweep the grainfrom the platform every time they passed over it.

To regulate the size of the gavels I lift the rake-arms, when desired,by depressing the latch u. When this is done the rake-guide rises'on thelatch, and runs on top of the rail s, thus passing over the gavel untilthey rake has vpassed over .the platform, when it runsl on the latch s2,which sinks, and thus lguides it back into the track s again. As-theguides are adjustable on their socket-arms by means of the slots andset-screws o1, the reel and beater arms can be set to work higher orlower, as desired. The arrangement of the beaterarms is such that theydescend into the standing grain'in advance of the cutters, so as to liftup any inclined grain, and rise as they approach the cutters, so as toturn the grain over upon the platform as it is cut, and thus pass over.This peculiar llifting feature I regard as of great value. The rake-arm,on the contrary, descends upon the platform behind the cutters, andsweeps off the grain.

' What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is

1. The combination, substantially as set forth, of the main frame,the'driving-wheel, the finger-beam, arranged in the same vertical planeas the main axle, but on a lower level,

the vertically-moving pivoted tongue, the adjusting-'crank, and thehand-lever J, whereby the guards may be tipped at the will of theoperator.

2. The combination, substantially as set forth, 0f theindependently-hinged combined reel and rake arms, the double-trackedcam, and the verticallyadjustable guide arms., whereby the beaters arecaused to descend into the standing grain in advance of the cutters, andto rise before reaching the cutters, as set forth.

3; The combination, as set forth, ofthe rakearm, guide, and camway swith the latch-sprin g u, which is lowered to lift the rake, and thelatch s2, which falls to guide it back to the track, whereby the gavelis always removed unless the rake is lifted by the latch.

4. The combination, in a harvester, substantially as set forth, of aseries of independently-hinged` rotating rake and reel arms with thedouble-tracked camway and connectingguides, when so arranged that therake descends upon the platform behind the cutters, to sweep off thegavel while the beaters descend into the grain in advance of thecutters, and rise before reaching them to lift fallen grain.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

E. Gr. PASSMORE, JR.

Witnesses:

SAML. EMLEN, J .'H. GRAHAM.

